Question

Give four points of anatomical differences between a monocot stem and a dicot stem

Answer 1

Anatomical differences between a monocot stem and a dicot stem.

	Dicotyledonous stem	Monocotyledonous stem
1	Ground tissue is usually differentiated into collenchymatous hypodermis, parenchymatous middle cortex and pith.	Ground tissue is usually undifferentiated
2	Vascular bundles are conjoint, collateral, endarch and open	Vascular bundles are conjoint, collateral, endarch and closed.
3	Vascular bundles are arranged in a ring and are of nearly the same size.	Vascular bundles are scattered and are of various sizes, usually larger towards the centre.
4	Vascular bundle is not surrounded by a sclerenchymatous sheath.	Vascular bundle is surrounded by a sclerenchymatous sheath
5	Phloem is composed of sieve tubes, companion cells and phloem parenchyma	Phloem is composed of only sieve tubes and companion cells, phloem parenchyma is absent.
6	Medullary rays occur in the form of strips of parenchymatous cells in between the vascular bundles.	Medullary rays are not marked out.
7	Pith present.	Pith absent
8	Secondary growth occurs	Secondary growth usually does not occur.